Next month’s event "Leveraging ‘The Cloud’ in a Government Environment" will be held on January 30 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento. The day-long forum will feature educational content for all levels of public sector employees, with executive, management and technology tracks and more than 25 breakout sessions, round table discussions and keynote speeches. Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos and OTech Director Ron Hughes will give opening remarks. Event host Public Sector Partners this week launched a website for attendees to learn more and register. Visit the site at http://www.pspinfo.us/Cloud2013/
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recently issued a survey of its state members’ most critical policy and technology issues facing state government. At the top of the list are: consolidation, cloud services, security, budget, health care and mobile services. Read the survey here.
The State Auditor Elaine Howle last week released a report: State Agencies’ Computer-Generated Data Varied in Their Completeness and Accuracy, giving agencies mixed reviews on how reliable their data are for audit purposes. Read the full report here.
This week California hosted the National Association of Chief Information Officer’s (NASCIO) annual conference held in San Diego. Two California agencies won national recognition: CalPERS for its Public Employer Readiness Team that helped launch the $500 million my|CalPERS project, and the Department of Food and Agriculture for its Video Interact Project. Being a NASCIO winner includes having your team’s video played at the awards ceremony. Hosted on the association’s YouTube channel, the 2-minute or so videos are great to watch, sometimes even funny or odd. See CDFA’s video here and CalPERS’ here.
If you have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell the state what you really think about California government’s IT procurement process, now is the time. The Department of General Services and California Technology Agency have released an anonymous online survey to provide feedback to "help determine the most efficient and effective IT procurement system for the state," says the agency’s website.
If you missed last week’s IT Security Awareness Fair, you can catch most of the keynote addresses and breakout sessions via YouTube here, courtesy of event co-host Public Sector Partners.
After serving in various positions in the Office of Technology Services (OTech) over the years, starting in 1989 as a software specialist at the Health and Welfare Data Center, Mike Baker has been promoted to deputy director for operations. Among his duties, Baker is in charge of retiring outdated and unused technologies, as well as tenant managed services, the department’s service desk and its disaster recovery program. As the state’s main data center, OTech provides computing and networking services to state, local and federal agencies.
Tech startup executives and venture capital experts will have an opportunity to connect at Velocity Venture Capital’s Entrepreneurs Showcase next Tuesday in Sacramento.
State and local government agencies will have one less obstacle in creating a Geographic Information System (GIS) with a new geocoding service offered by the California Technology Agency (CTA), Secretary Ramos announced last week.
Debbie Rose has been appointed director of the Office of Systems Integration (OSI) where she has served as acting director since August 2011 and as chief deputy director since 2009. Prior to serving at OSI, Rose held a variety of leadership positions at the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), including Chief of the Program Integrity Branch. From 1992-1995, she served as an Associate Administrator at the California Department of Transportation and from 1988-1992 as an Analyst with CDSS.
With awards season officially underway, the State of California portal has won second place in the Center for Digital Government’s annual Best of the Web portal competition, the Center announced today.
Educators should think of smart phones, not as barriers, but as learning tools to help prepare students to enter the modern workforce, according to a new report by a task force of technology education advisers to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today announced this year’s nominations for its annual awards program with California as finalist in 5 of 10 categories.
Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos last week swore in Veronica Ortiz-Torres, associate secretary of digital education who will report to recently appointed Adelina Zendejas, assistant secretary of broadband and digital literacy.
Caltrans has a new online service that provides drivers with real-time traffic and travel conditions displayed on a user-friendly map, the department announced on Tuesday.
The Highlands Consulting Group is hiring a Deployment/Organizational Change Management (OCM) consultant to implement a large and complex information technology system for the State of California. The OCM consultant will facilitate department preparation and readiness for the implementation of a new statewide system and conduct organizational change readiness activities. The OCM consultant will also oversee the use of departmental readiness tools, monitor departmental readiness for project go-live, assist project staff and departments in readiness activities and cut-over tasks, and report on departmental readiness for cut-over/implementation. These activities may require short-term, in-state travel. The project duration is approximately 12 months with an option to renew based on performance and the contract. More details can be found here. To apply for this opportunity please reply to careers@highlandsconsulting.com.
Attorney General Kamala Harris today announced the creation of a new Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit within the eCrime Unit of the California Department of Justice.
Governor Brown has appointed Liane Morgan of Elk Grove as chief information officer for the California Housing Finance Agency (CHFA), according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Morgan has served as acting chief information officer and acting information security officer since 2010 and has been with the California Housing Finance Agency since 1987.
Eight community-based organizations making significant progress to close the Digital Divide were officially recognized by members of California’s congressional delegation on Thursday, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) announced.
The City of San Diego has signed a five-year, $91 million contract with CGI Group Inc. to support and modernize more than 165 applications across 18 departments, the company announced today.
With significantly more complaints than any other state in the nation, California tops all states with the most Internet crimes, according to a report issued by the FBI. As reported by Government Technology, the 2011 Internet Crime Report focuses on overall Internet crime statistics and trends, as well as prevention tips. Victims in California reported the highest dollar losses with a total of $70.5 million. For victims reporting financial losses, the average was $4,187, according to the report. The most commonly reported crimes involved scams related to the FBI, identity theft, advance free fraud, non-delivery of auction items and overpayment fraud.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced on Thursday that it has extended the deadlines for filing project applications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Broadband Infrastructure grants and loans. The new deadline will coordinate the application filing date and CPUC review with updated mapping data to be published in June 2012.
Out with a new mobile app using data from California’s state phone directory, Folsom-based Kiefer Consulting Inc. was the focus of yesterday’s The State Worker blog published by The Sacramento Bee. Kiefer Consulting introduced their app at the Government Mobility Conference earlier this year, predicting that it would become the “go-to source” for looking up CA state employee phone numbers and email addresses, according to the blog post.
State officials this week announced a redesigned portal, CA.gov, that factors in the increased traffic from mobile users. With a new “touch-friendly” design, the portal has enhanced search capabilities, innovative dashboards that display real-time and rich infographics, according to the announcement.
The California Highway Patrol has a new chief information officer—Assistant Chief Scott Silsbee took over the position after Reggie Chappelle returned to a field command position in January.
CGI this week announced that the global IT consulting firm will be making $4,000 in charitable donations to Sacramento-area organizations for environmental projects focused on youth empowerment and education. In celebration of Earth Month, CGI invited Sacramento organizations to submit 140 character messages on Twitter and Facebook describing how they would use $2,000 and volunteer hours for an Earth Month-inspired project.
Computer-Using Educators, Inc. (CUE) announced this week the relaunch of Internet TV show Infinite Thinking Machine (ITM), aimed at the Ed Tech community.
